Commentary

Labor Day is a very busy end-of-summer vacation time of year where many take the boat out for the last time, have a back yard BBQ and pool party with friends and family, or grab their gear to head for the mountains, or ocean, or some other destination for the three-day holiday.

I also see it signify the beginning of the type of clothing color one wears--no white after Labor Day (an old-money, wealthy-set custom that set the elitists apart from the working class), schedule your sprinkler system blow-out, chimney inspections, furnace checks, fall planting season, ski gear review and swap preparations, and oil and tire changes.

But what is Labor Day…really?

This holiday is more of an observance than holiday. It recognizes the average “Joe Blow” worker and how far the conditions under which a person works has changed.

It was not long ago when working conditions for the average person were not consistent nor fair. Many individuals worked jobs that were physically demanding or mentally taxing; many times, for extended hours each day, seven days a week.

So, the labor unions advocated for specific improvements in their working conditions. Thus, resulting in a 40-hour work week with paid time off, vacation and sick leave.

Labor Day marks the day when all workers were afforded compensation for the job they do and how the country reveres its workforce.

Why do we celebrate Labor Day in September?

When Labor Day was adopted by Congress on June 28, 1894, lawmakers passed an act declaring it a holiday to be celebrated the fifth of September each year.

The reason why this specific day?

One of the reasons is on September 5, 1882, over 10,000 workers planned to take an unpaid day off to parade or march as we would say today, from City Hall to Union Square in New York City. The only reason they chose this day was simply because Peter J. McGuire, the parade organizer said it fell between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving,” according to Brittanica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Labor-Day).

It was then in 1884, the Knights of Labor union decided to continue the September celebration, but change it to the first Monday instead of the fifth day of September.